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Where Are The Rental Movies Going?

PROJECT359

PROJECT359

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 14, 2007
104
0
Texas, USA
I have to say, I've become addicted to the new rental downloads on the AppleTV. The weekends are now set aside for watching rentals and I've enjoyed everything I've grabbed so far.

One thing I have noticed, during the week I browse around the iTunes store looking for something new to rent and then I grab them on Friday night ready to go for the next day. I've noticed that some movies disappear from the store before I get the chance to order them (I know, I should grab them when I see them).

Some movies I've noticed disappearing are Saw IV and 300.

Just curious as to why these movies are only up for a short while and then taken down again :confused:

Studio decision or Apples?
 
PROJECT359 said:
I have to say, I've become addicted to the new rental downloads on the AppleTV. The weekends are now set aside for watching rentals and I've enjoyed everything I've grabbed so far.

One thing I have noticed, during the week I browse around the iTunes store looking for something new to rent and then I grab them on Friday night ready to go for the next day. I've noticed that some movies disappear from the store before I get the chance to order them (I know, I should grab them when I see them).

Some movies I've noticed disappearing are Saw IV and 300.

Just curious as to why these movies are only up for a short while and then taken down again :confused:

Studio decision or Apples?
Click to expand...

Hey? You're right. I know both of those movies were up. In fact, "300" was one of the first movies up in HD when Take 2 was released. Where did these movies go?
 
Hopefully it is just growing pains and when the studios and apple get there act together this kind of thing won't happen.

But if it is not temporary then it is worrying, I have always read about the studios releasing things in 'windows' but was hoping it would not apply here. If this becomes common then the selection will obviously grow from where it is, but it will always be limited to a window of select movies at any point in time. Really not meeting the dream of being able to find most anything you may want to watch (outside of obscure films). That would be very disappointing as (other than Disney) this never happens with DVDs and will make it very difficult for this to replace DVDs and Netfilx for me.

Again, I am just hoping that given enough time it will all sort itself out.

Peter
 
PROJECT359 said:
I have to say, I've become addicted to the new rental downloads on the AppleTV. The weekends are now set aside for watching rentals and I've enjoyed everything I've grabbed so far.

One thing I have noticed, during the week I browse around the iTunes store looking for something new to rent and then I grab them on Friday night ready to go for the next day. I've noticed that some movies disappear from the store before I get the chance to order them (I know, I should grab them when I see them).

Some movies I've noticed disappearing are Saw IV and 300.

Just curious as to why these movies are only up for a short while and then taken down again :confused:

Studio decision or Apples?
Click to expand...

Are you just looking at the Top Movies visual browser? Have you tried using search or any of the other complete listings?

Also, do you know that you can keep scrolling to the right with the controller on a number of the visual menus? Other than the All HD menu, each row of movies in Top Movies and possibly Genres, though I can't recall off hand, has more movies off screen to the right if you keep pressing the right arrow on the remote.

My guess is that as new movies are added, the Top Movies listings change, but the movies should still be visible in Genres and Search, and All HD (if an HD movie). Or if you are looking in these other menus, you haven't tried scrolling further to the right in a particular row.
 
Thats really odd. Surely apple made the studios sign up to have movies on for more than a month, especially as they were trying to get 1000 by the end of the february?
 
I'm curious to know why this is happening. If they keep pulling movie rentals off of iTunes, then they'll never be able to compete with Netflix, Amazon, etc. Especially as the two movies I noticed were big new (kinda) releases.
 
PROJECT359 said:
I'm curious to know why this is happening. If they keep pulling movie rentals off of iTunes, then they'll never be able to compete with Netflix, Amazon, etc. Especially as the two movies I noticed were big new (kinda) releases.
Click to expand...

Well, this is not a definitive answer, but here is what iTunes support said in reply to my email, asking if movies were being removed from the iTunes store.

........
I understand that you are inquiring if iTunes will be adding and removing movie rental content on a regular basis. The answer is a bit complicated but I hope I have summed it up coherently for you. If you should have questions pertaining to any of the information I have provided below, you may wish to visit the iTunes Labels & Marketing page for more information or the appropriate contact:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/musicmarketing/

The iTunes Store features movies from all of the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.

The length of time that any given movie rental will be available for purchase on the iTunes Store is dependent on the terms and conditions agreed to in the contract that Apple made with the movie studio responsible for providing the media content for distribution on the iTunes Store.

In this respect, iTunes is considered merely a vendor for the distribution of content provided by the production studios. As such, content on the Store is subject to change at any time. For your convenience I have included a link to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale & Service.

The Terms of Sale are available for you to review here:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww

The Terms of Service are available for your perusal here:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/service.html

I do not have access to information pertaining to when, and for how long, a movie rental will be made available for purchase on the iTunes Store. However, Apple is constantly expanding the iTunes Store's catalog of music, audiobooks, and videos. To ensure that your request is considered, please submit it through the Request page at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate to reply to this email and I will assist you promptly.

Sincerely,
Sarah
Your iTunes Store Customer Support Representative
 
weird. If they pull movies how are we going to have a reliable experience with the rental store. The library should expand, not just turn over. Otherwise, it's no better than cable/satellite PPV.
 
cohibadad said:
weird. If they pull movies how are we going to have a reliable experience with the rental store. The library should expand, not just turn over. Otherwise, it's no better than cable/satellite PPV.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think this is troubling. Or, I noticed last night that the menus are kind of a mess. For instance Aliens and Aliens 3 appear in the just added, but not in a genre list or "all" list. 300 is missing as we've said. Maybe there are just scrambling to get the menus up-to-date and that was a causality for some reason.
 
mwp98223 said:
For instance Aliens and Aliens 3 appear in the just added, but not in a genre list or "all" list.
Click to expand...

Noticed this too. Searching for a specific movie name will pull it up, but it doesn't appear in the "List All" section.

It's making it difficult to see what exactly iTunes is offering for rental when there doesn't appear to be a complete reliable list to go through.
 
PROJECT359 said:
I have to say, I've become addicted to the new rental downloads on the AppleTV. The weekends are now set aside for watching rentals and I've enjoyed everything I've grabbed so far.

One thing I have noticed, during the week I browse around the iTunes store looking for something new to rent and then I grab them on Friday night ready to go for the next day. I've noticed that some movies disappear from the store before I get the chance to order them (I know, I should grab them when I see them).

Some movies I've noticed disappearing are Saw IV and 300.

Just curious as to why these movies are only up for a short while and then taken down again :confused:

Studio decision or Apples?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed that too. Where the **** is 300? Wasn't Spiderman 3 an HD title as well?

I know Starz had their big 300 premier tonight, so many the studio made Apple take it down?

What the ****?
 
I really hope apple gets a hold on this. I bought an Apple TV because I thought Apple would not leave it out in the cold like they did with Take 1. I think the way to search for movies and such is inefficient and as others have said they selection needs to increase not decrease in number. Come on Apple!
 
When rentals came online, I cancelled my Netflix account, figuring that between PPV and the expanding iTunes library it wouldn't be needed.

Well so far the rentals have worked out great but I've been a bit underwelmed with the catalog. With the expanding blu-ray library on Netflix, I just recently restarted my service.

Come on apple, get it together!

benlee said:
I really hope apple gets a hold on this. I bought an Apple TV because I thought Apple would not leave it out in the cold like they did with Take 1. I think the way to search for movies and such is inefficient and as others have said they selection needs to increase not decrease in number. Come on Apple!
Click to expand...
 
They pulled Blazing Saddles (HD rental) from the store the night that Take2 was released, and then just added it back a few days ago. It could very well have been a quality issue. One thing I really hate about the studios is that they portion out releases of old content so as not to affect sales of their latest releases. I wish they would all just dump their entire catalogs online.
 
Still no sign of 300. Looks like its gone for good. This is so sad, i really thought that the library would just grow and grow.
 
chuckles:) said:
Still no sign of 300. Looks like its gone for good. This is so sad, i really thought that the library would just grow and grow.
Click to expand...

I sent an angry email and I got this as as response.


I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that you have experienced as a result of the movie "300" being removed from the iTunes movie catalog.

From time to time, the iTunes Store updates the items in the catalog to ensure the highest possible quality for our customers. The movie could have also been removed due to a file quality issue. It's also possible that "300" is being updated and is therefore temporarily unavailable until further notice. At this point it is not clear if this movie will be added back to the store or not.

You can request for this title to be placed back to the store catalog. Please submit it through the Request page at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

For the inconvenience experienced I have issued 3 song credits to your account "levitynyc", which you can use to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.
 
levitynyc said:
I sent an angry email and I got this as as response.


I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that you have experienced as a result of the movie "300" being removed from the iTunes movie catalog.

From time to time, the iTunes Store updates the items in the catalog to ensure the highest possible quality for our customers. The movie could have also been removed due to a file quality issue. It's also possible that "300" is being updated and is therefore temporarily unavailable until further notice. At this point it is not clear if this movie will be added back to the store or not.

You can request for this title to be placed back to the store catalog. Please submit it through the Request page at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

For the inconvenience experienced I have issued 3 song credits to your account "levitynyc", which you can use to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.
Click to expand...

Similar response as I received (see above post)...but hey, where are my 3 songs?
 
levitynyc said:
I sent an angry email and I got this as as response.


I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that you have experienced as a result of the movie "300" being removed from the iTunes movie catalog.

From time to time, the iTunes Store updates the items in the catalog to ensure the highest possible quality for our customers. The movie could have also been removed due to a file quality issue. It's also possible that "300" is being updated and is therefore temporarily unavailable until further notice. At this point it is not clear if this movie will be added back to the store or not.

You can request for this title to be placed back to the store catalog. Please submit it through the Request page at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

For the inconvenience experienced I have issued 3 song credits to your account "levitynyc", which you can use to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.
Click to expand...

Free songs? Man, I need to complain more often!:)

Seriously though, I really hope Apple can get whatever it is under wraps. First they don't come close to meeting the 1000 titles deadline they imposed on themselves and now they are taking movies down to "ensure the highest quality"? I mean I understand working on making the video better, but atleast leave the old file up there until your "higher quality" version is ready to go ..
 
All is revealed: Where 300 went

The Steve must have been showing off Apple TV to one of his cronies who came over one evening for a few microbrews, and he laughed at The Steve and the pitifully bad encode for 300 HD.

"You call that Aych Dee?" the beer-swilling friend must have yelled.

So The Steve must have went in to work the next day and thrown a hissy-fit.

"Take 'em all down if they aren't perfect!" he probably screamed. "This hobby has gotten out of hand!"

And so, the puzzle of where the movies went has been solved.

Glad to help. ;)
 
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